Sermon, March 28, 2002
Maundy Thursday, Year A
The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Gospel – John 13:1-15 Jesus washes the disciples’ feet 

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. John 13:1b

I have a colleague who tells about the grace filled last days of his father’s life. His father had lived a full and good life, but he faced the end of a struggle with a terminal illness. The family had gathered around from time to time for surgeries and various hospital events. But they had reached that stage where everything medical had been done, and now they waited for nature to take her course.

His father’s pain was managed well, but he slept good portions of the day. However, one day he seemed to have a sustained burst of energy and alertness, and he began to direct traffic with some of his old accustomed vitality. He barked orders and made arrangements for his room to be emptied, except for the youngest of his children. The rest of the family waited outside wondering for several minutes before their sibling emerged with a puzzling combination of tearful sadness and a mysterious radiance. "He wants you next," she said, pointing to the next youngest.

And so it went, each adult child from the youngest to the oldest going in alone for an audience with their father, one by one. Finally, my friend went in; he was the oldest. Though very weak, his father raised his arm to draw his son close to him. With a soft voice, he told his son how proud he was of him. He remembered the joy on the day he was born. He spoke of what a fine man he had become, and gave words to the gifts and talents and virtues he recognized in his first born. He blessed him, hugged him, and thanked him for being his son. Then sent him back into the hall with the charge, "Now send your mother here to me." Some hours later he lapsed into a coma; and in a few days he died.

But the blessings that father bequeathed upon his loved ones lived on in their lives, giving them strength and joy, courage and character. His spirit passed into them and into everyone they touched with the gifts he so graciously claimed for them.

When Jesus reached this night some two millennia ago, he knew the end was near. He wanted to give a blessing to his family of disciples and friends. "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end."

He gave them three gifts, three blessings; and with those profound gestures he bequeathed upon his beloved the Spirit that he wished pass on.

"And during supper Jesus... got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around him. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet..." His first blessing to them was to give them the example of service. Actually, it was a rather scandalous thing to do. He was their leader, their teacher, their rabbi. In their culture only slaves and servants washed another’s feet. But his blessing for them is to reach down, to get his hands dirty willingly in order to be of service. It is like so much of his work of restoring the soiled or broken to their original condition of cleanness and health. So much of his ministry he spent among the unclean, whom he empowered and blessed. He spoke to his disciples, as he speaks to us, "So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you." The example of service.

Later on that night he gave them his second blessing. He "took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also ...saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’" (1 Cor. 11:26f)

That following Sunday, after witnessing his gruesome execution, the disciples were gathered around a similar table, and "they knew him in the breaking of the bread." In some wonderful mystery, his Spirit continued with them in the communion of the table. They were nourished by his continuing life, and they became one in the fellowship of this divine meal. The power of the broken bread and the wine poured out was so real that they were convinced of his resurrection, and willing to face their own death’s joyfully proclaiming his blessing. The second blessing – his nurturing presence and their unity in communion.

The third blessing summarizes the first two. It is the blessing from which we name this night. Later in the evening, he spoke to them: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another." (John 13:34) Remembering those words, the church gave this night the title "Maundy Thursday" from the Latin "mandatum" meaning "commandment." With these closing words he reinforces all that he has said about the law – about rules and statutes and commandments and orders. Earlier he had summarized them all saying, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, ...[and] love your neighbor as yourself." Among his intimates he reinforces the only law there is – love. "Love one another."

Soon he will enter the darkness of this night. He will be betrayed by a dear companion. He will be tortured, tried, convicted, sentenced and slowly executed. He will give up his Spirit.

But the blessings that Jesus bequeathed this night live on. The Church remembers. We return to that upper room. We are his disciples. We are with him at the foreboding meal. He looks at each of us, and he washes our feet to give us the example of service. He breaks the bread and pours out the wine to nurture us with his life and to establish our unity. With a soft voice he tells us how much he loves us and how proud he is of our gifts and talents and virtues. He hugs us, and thanks us for being his friends. He looks at us all before we go out into our darkness, and he tells us with a divine intensity: "Love one another."

That’s his last gift to us. "Love one another."

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